Introduction
The World Football Cup is the most important competition in all the sports. It generates a huge amount of revenues and gathers over 2 billion viewers, more than any other competition, even the Olympics. The interest for the competition is just overwhelming, and all the 32 nations involved every 4 years feel privileged.
The competition consists of 8 groups of 32 teams, with 2 teams qualifying for the next phase out of each group. Teams from all continents participate, Europe being the better represented of them all.
History
The first World Football Cup took place in 1930 in Uruguay. The number of teams involved was 13. The trophy was won by the home team. The next two competitions were hosted by Italy in 1934 and France in 1938, with Italy being the winner of both. World War Two stopped the competition for 12 years.
In 1950, Brazil hosted the next World Football Cup. The final had a thrilling turn of events: Brazil was playing at home against Uruguay, on Maracana stadium, in front of the biggest audience football ever offered: nearly 200 000 people. Brazil was the clear favorite in front of all eyes, and showed that status in the first half with a 1-0 lead. The second half had a different turn of events, Uruguay scoring 2 goals and bringing total silence to the Brazilian crowd.
Features
The next competition had an even surprising turn of events. The tournament was hosted by Switzerland and final was played between Germany and Hungary. Hungary was the clear favorite, especially because of the win against beating Germany in a group match they had days earlier with 8-3. After a 2-0 lead at halftime, everyone though Hungary was going to win an easy game. Germany showed great composure and managed to turn thing around scoring 3 goals and coming up with a great and shocking win.
The next period was dominated by the national team of Brazil, the exact same period worldwide star Pele, a player considered to be the best in all the history of football, played for his national team. In 1958, Sweden hosted the World Football Cup and managed to reach the final for the first and only time. However, Brazil won the trophy with 5-2, Pele scoring 2 of the goals. Four years later, Chile was the host of the World Football Cup won also by Brazil, in a final against Czechoslovakia, with 3-1.
Tips and Comments
In 1966, England, the host of the competition won the final against Germany with a thrilling 4-2 after overtime. One of the goals scored by England after 90 minutes was very controversial, even to this day, after thousands of replays, no one is absolutely sure the ball went in. It was the only cup of the period that Brazil failed to reach the final.
In 19970, Mexico was the host of one of the most spectacular World Football Cup competition. The final was played between Italy and Brazil, with the South Americans winning an easy game 4-1, Pele once again being one of the scorers.
